I do not own Rockman X

Rockman X Episode 6

Nightmares of the Present and Past

Act One: The Dirge of Zero

One week ago

Blue eyes, the color of the once happy blue skies of the Earth, scanned the area. Something terrible had happened. Reploids don't have intuition though. Or did they? Were they programmed with it? A white glove held tightly onto a child's hand as she stared at the ruins.

"Are you sure he's here?" the little girl asked of her bodyguard. She looked up at a violet and blue armored reploid. Long golden orange hair fell down her back in wild strands as she ran her hand through it.

"I can see something or someone. It's a faint signal. The Irregular Hunters must be understaffed if they haven't recovered them yet…" she mused, her voice soft yet hard. It was one who has seen many battles.

"Hey! Hey Hikari wait up!" The violet reploid shouted after her charge. Hikari, her purple hair in pigtails and her body clad in a dirty white dress, ran out to the debris. Sighing, she shook her head and chased after her.

Hikari pointed to a section of the ruins. "I see an old man! He looks like Santa Claus!" she remarked with a smile.

The reploid frowned as she caught up. "I don't see anyone. Nor do I read anyone on my sensors but…" her gaze fell to the ground. "Someone's buried!"

As she started to dig, Hikari continued to chat with the Santa Claus. "He says he's done all he can. The rest is up to his friends. Mina-chan, he wears a white lab coat. Do you know anyone with a white lab coat?"

"No Hikari-san. I don't. Damn this ground is hard to dig through…" Mina cursed under her breath quietly so the five year old wouldn't hear her. "Ah! Here we are. Oh?"

Hikari waved to the man she had seen and looked at what Mina had found. "A…That's a…"

"A saber hilt." Mina finished for her. "I think we've found Zero!" she smiled excitedly and started digging fast. What she uncovered though was not Zero. The crimson armored Reploid she had hoped to find was instead an azure blue.

"X! Mina-chan we found X! X-sama!" Hikari danced around happily. Mina was happy too but disappointed. The only reading she had found in the entire sector and it didn't belong to her crush. Life had just grown dimmer. But not too dim, she thought, I still have Hikari-san and X here too.

Hikari stopped dancing and looked up. "Mina-chan. The man is crying! Why is he crying? He keeps saying he's happy. His son is awake and found…"

Mina blinked confused. "Son? Wait…Dr. Right?" she looked around wildly. "Dr. Right?"

"You know him?"

Mina nodded to Hikari as she lifted X out of the ground. "Not necessarily. Your father inputted the information into my system about someone named Dr. Right. It seemed to fit his description pretty well. A ghost I wonder? Oh!"

X's eyes clicked on as he ran a system check. He raised his hand to rub his head. "What? What happened?" he asked, looking around. Seeing Mina and Hikari, he placed a hand on his X-buster. "Who are you?"

Mina frowned and stood up taking Hikari's hand. "How dare you even think that we're Mavericks? We saved you!" Mina ignored Hikari who was tugging on her arm.

X lowered his buster and stood up, brushing himself off. "My apologies, you just never know…you know?"

The violet reploid placed a finger on her lips and nodded. "I suppose you're right but…you could scare children with that thing!"

X kneeled down and looked at Hikari. "What's your name?" he asked with a smile.

Hikari blushed brightly as she giggled. "Yukimura, Hikari." She then pointed to Mina. "Mina is my bodyguard but she's more like a sister."

X stood up again. "A bodyguard hm? I hate to be a recruiter but we're understaffed at the headquarters…hm?" As he held out his hand to shake hers, he noticed the saber in his hands. "Zero…?"

"You…you didn't find another reploid here did you?" he asked hesitatively, almost afraid of the answer. Mina shook her head sadly.

"My creator, Yukimura Hideaki, programmed me with the best radar system money could buy." She bit her lower lip. "I only found you. H-Hey X! At least Sigma's destroyed right?"

X turned away from them both, his hands shaking. Mina had no clue why he would turn away and looked down at Hikari. The violet haired girl said simply and sadly "X-sama is crying Mina-chan. Don't you know that's what happens when someone loses someone close to them? The one that means the world to them?"

Mina blushed, embarrassed. "He's crying? Oh goodness…" She covered her face with her hand and turned away also. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me for being so…heartless. I'm not. Really."

Her words fell out of her mouth clumsily. "I cared a lot for him too, though we never met. I'd be really sad too if Hikari-san was killed. I'd feel extremely guilty that I wasn't there for her. X…Cheer up. I don't know how to say it but…cheer up."

"Geez…the least anybody could have done is leave his corpse around here somewhere. At least we could hold a funeral or something for him." Mina muttered dryly.

A hand gripped her shoulder as she was spun around. Blue eyes met tearful turquoise eyes. "How can you speak about Zero-kun so loosely?" he asked loudly. "How can you just flip out the words like that?"

Mina's eyes widened in shock of X's outburst. She hadn't expected this, at least not from someone who acted so strong and peaceful at the same time. X was a great pacifist and always strived to find a way to end a battle without fighting. "I guess soldiers do break down once in awhile…" she commented. "Hikari-san. We'd best be going. We need to find a new home."

"Right! I don't like sleeping out in the open!" Hikari piped up.

X watched the two of them walk away. Anger swelled up in his chest at Mina for speaking the way she did. However, as he looked down at the saber, they didn't have a place to stay. He could live with putting Mina out in the cold, though it would take while for the guilt to go away but to leave little Hikari out there? Out there where a Maverick could strike?

"Yukimura-san! Mina-san!" he shouted after them. Two sets of eyes looked back to him in curiosity. "I…I can put you up at the Headquarters as repayment for digging me out? I'd like it if you'd stay with us. There isn't many there…It could liven the place up a bit."

He could see Hikari jump into Mina's arms happily. The violet reploid carried her over to X and he was happy to see smiles on both their faces. Hikari jumped down to the ground and hugged X tightly screaming out "thank you" numerous times. Mina looked at X as he looked over to her.

"We both loved him so much." She said quietly. "We admired him from both short and long distances. I don't know how you feel but it almost feels like an emptiness inside of me. I guess I'll have to fillit with something else.It's time though that we picked up the fight."

X simply nodded and allowed Hikari to jump on his back. "I know he's still out there." He replied to her. "It's just a matter of time. He's testing me right now. I can feel it."

Alia sighed heavily as she looked at her paperwork. So many files, so little time. Why haven't they found X or Zero yet? She felt so useless sitting at her desk. Communication was cut off and she feared trying it again. What if all she heard was static?

Shaking her head, she returned to her work. Her mind though would not let her concentrate on it. She clicked on her headset and decided that knowing the truth was better than to suffer in wait. "X-" she started.

"Alia!" X appeared behind her having entered the room. Alia turned around to see him and tears welled up in her eyes. She was about to run up to him to wrap him in a warm hug when she noticed Hikari in his arms. Behind him was Mina who was scanning the room, making note of where everything was.

"Who are they?" she asked confused. "Survivors?" Hikari jumped out of X's arms and held a hand out to the older navigator.

"I'm Yukimura, Hikari! And this is my bodyguard Mina-chan!" she bowed and hugged Alia tightly. "We found X-sama! All by ourselves we did! And X-sama says we can live here! But we'd have to talk to Signas first."

"X, is this true?" Alia looked up at the azure reploid.

"I'll talk to Signas later after I have them settled in. Don't worry about it Alia." X winked as he gave her a thumbs up. Alia felt her heart jump but placed that aside for now. X turned and gestured for Mina to follow him.

"You'll be staying in the Hunters' dorm for now. We don't have suitable living arrangements but it'll do." He opened the door to one room and was about to enter when Mina placed a hand on his shoulder.

She looked at him sternly. "Why didn't you tell Alia about Zero-kun?" she asked.

X stopped and looked to the floor. He wondered about that himself. Alia deserved the truth at least. Zero was gone for now. But if she had heard he was dead, Alia would have grown depressed. They didn't need anyone to be depressed during these times. "Alia will know when the time is right. I don't like it when she's sad or worried." he answered her.

"X..." Mina whispered surprised. She then smiled. "I think...X, I think I want to join your cause. I want to protect Hikari-san. Please, let me join you!"

She thought for sure that everything would turn out all right. She and Hikari would start a new life at the HQ. What she didn't know was that X didn't want to lose anymore friends. X didn't want anymore casualties. And so his answer was...

"No."

A/N: My first Rockman X fanfic! I hope this works out. I'm using the original name for the hunters. In the Japanese version they were called Irregular hunters. Please r/r!